Cruise of the Lanikai: Incitement to WarIn early December 1941 in the Philippines, a young Navy ensign named Kemp Tolley was given his first ship command, an old 76-foot schooner that had once served as a movie prop in John Ford's "The Hurricane." Crewed mostly by Filipinos who did not speak English and armed with a cannon that had last seen service in the Spanish-American War, the Lanikai was under top-secret presidential orders to sail south into waters where the Japanese fleet was thought to be. Ostensibly the crew was to spy on Japanese naval movements, but to Tolley it was clear that their mission was to create an incident that would provoke war. Events overtook the plan, however, when Pearl Harbor was bombed before the Lanikaicould get underway. When Bataan and Corregidor fell, she was ordered to set sail for Australia and became one of the few U.S. naval vessels to escape the Philippines. In this book Tolley tells the saga of her great adventure during these grim, early days of the war and makes history come alive as he regales the reader with details of the operation and an explanation of President Roosevelt's order. Tolley's description of their escape in Japanese warship-infested waters ranks with the best of sea tales, and few will be able to forget the Lanikai's 4,000-mile, three-month odyssey. |
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... boat was plowing along at 40 knots, struggling to become airborne, when abanca loomed deadaheadinthe murk.PilotHarmon T. Utter kicked therudder over hard to miss the boat. The plane heeledsharplyand brokeoff a wing float.There was ...
... boat was plowing along at 40 knots, struggling to become airborne, when abanca loomed deadaheadinthe murk.PilotHarmon T. Utter kicked therudder over hard to miss the boat. The plane heeledsharplyand brokeoff a wing float.There was ...
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... Boats” had rapidly learned the ropes of a windjammer, literally and figuratively. The bottle of compressed gas was less of a success. It merely corroborated our lack of knowledge of Navy gas bottle identification markings and confirmed ...
... Boats” had rapidly learned the ropes of a windjammer, literally and figuratively. The bottle of compressed gas was less of a success. It merely corroborated our lack of knowledge of Navy gas bottle identification markings and confirmed ...
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... boats and automotive equipment, and provided hot baths for sweatsoaked, dirtcaked Army nurses in from thefield. During daylight air alarms, any crewmen momentarily unemployed scurried ashoreto take shelterinthe deep caves thathadbeen ...
... boats and automotive equipment, and provided hot baths for sweatsoaked, dirtcaked Army nurses in from thefield. During daylight air alarms, any crewmen momentarily unemployed scurried ashoreto take shelterinthe deep caves thathadbeen ...
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... boat gun hasbeenmounted ontheafter deckhouseandtwo 30caliber Lewisguns forward, thus completing our armament.* By ones and twosthe menarrived. Chief Gunner's Mate MerleL.Picking hadbeen first and, other than myself, was the only ...
... boat gun hasbeenmounted ontheafter deckhouseandtwo 30caliber Lewisguns forward, thus completing our armament.* By ones and twosthe menarrived. Chief Gunner's Mate MerleL.Picking hadbeen first and, other than myself, was the only ...
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... Boats?” I inquired, after Kinsey had at last been convinced that this was indeed it. If “Boats” had been in sail before, his state of shock precluded any reply. I was left to comfort myself with the thought that more than a decade had ...
... Boats?” I inquired, after Kinsey had at last been convinced that this was indeed it. If “Boats” had been in sail before, his state of shock precluded any reply. I was left to comfort myself with the thought that more than a decade had ...
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Common terms and phrases
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